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Anyone else dealing with Demodex Mites? What helps?
Skin Health | Last Active: Sep 17 9:54pm | Replies (181)Comment receiving replies
It's one of the "go to" medications prescribed for this problem. I'd prefer to use natural products, so plan to investigate caraway oil soon. Yes, I have very dry eyes . My Xalatan eye drops for eye pressure are an irritant in itself for dryness. I use moisture drops all the time which I think contribute to blepharitis and mites- the lubricant . It started with the burning, itching eyes but then I noticed this past year constant new, tiny bumps and roughness on my face that I couldn't understand. So I started this journey and questioning from there. Itchy scalp too, but that is not anything new. So I think this overgrowth must have been a slow process over time. Have read is more predominant in the older population.
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I've gone through quite a few different drops and the one that I've settled on is Hylo-Forte, which gives a precise drop. There are several Hylo drops, but this seems to be the best, at least for me.
My dry-eye specialist at Scheie eye Institute (part of U of PA) prescribed erythromycin ointment to use every night. Before telling me about Demodex, she had told me to put it on my eyelid and onto my lash line margins (upper and lower). I agree with everyone that doctors don't like to talk about Demodex and she didn't tell me that they live on our lids, and that by putting the ointment on the lids it will keep them from moving around to mate at night. Putting it onto the upper and lower lash margins also prevents them from mating, and hopefully suffocates them (although I hear that's a long term issue). I know people use Vaseline, too, but at least the erythromycin is also an antibiotic.
This year I also started seeing tiny bumps and roughness under my eyes, which miraculously disappeared the first time I used Salicylic Acid. It didn't take care of the wrinkles, but at least it's helped a bit. : > )
I didn't have a lot of itches on my scalp and started noticing them when I started reading about other people's issues. As I've written before, I used 100% TTO on my scalp, waited 10-15 minutes (keeping my eyes covered) and then washed. I've done this 3 times now and if I have an itch, it's not persistent. I also laid down and put 100% TTO on my eyebrows and hopefully have killed them there. I've been losing eyebrow hairs over the past few weeks and hope they're now coming back. I just got them back after losing them and my eyelashes to chemo in 2021. But I know that losing eyebrows as we get older is normal. Horrible, but normal. It's my understanding that by the time we're in our 70's or 80's that 100% of us have Demodex.
Did you see the Xdemvy video animation of the Demodex? Not the one where they have them somewhat cute (if possible) and jumping around, but the one where it shows how they live and move around in our hair follicles.